Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-01-27
CHINESE FARMING.

Tie Comfortable Condition of the Celes-
siai Empires Agricultural Population.
In passing through the siIk-growing
district which begins very near to
Shanghai and extends all round to the
city of Hangchow, / could but be
struck indeed with the comfort which
prevailed every where The farm
houses OF China or at any rate in that
part OF China, were models of what
farm houses should be- I had expected
10 see squalor and Indebtedness. and
was all prepared for what I really be
held Exceedingly good gardening I
was OF course prepared for, for Chi
nese gardening is synonymous with
everything that is neat and productive.
But the orchards and mulberry trees
all beautifully trimmed, with the brick
Quilt and excellent houses half-hidden
away in them. certainly astonished me.
L CHANGED TO land from my house-boat
frequently in order TO shoot wood
cock. for It was in VIM
ter time when I passed through
the district To get these birds it was
necessary to scramble over the fields
and through the mulberry orchards of
the districts, and l was simply amazed
to see how beautifully the trees were
kept Underneath great quantities of
vegetables were grown, not foot of
earth appeared to be wasted. and every
inch was in the most superb order.
Had the whole country been a vast
garden, IT could not have been better
de6 nd
hereabouts any hedges or walls, the
fields were divided from each other by
deep dykes, which served the double
purpose of marking out the land and
irrigating or draining. as the case
might be. the adjacent soil. The trees,
Of which there were myriads, were all
planted with mathematical exactness
and in the greatest order, unlike the
trees in many English orchards, which
seem to have been stuck into the ground
with view of wasting as much space
as possible. And as for the tops of the
trees, they had all been carefully TRIM
med to the same pattern. every little
bough having been inspected and cut
as circumstances Glanced TO require.
never saw anything half SO orderly in
any country in the world; for these
We're no ornamental gardens which I
was going through, but mulberry orch
ards, extending over hundreds of
Square miles of country. and owned by
thousands of different husbandmen-
Inside the house, again I was surprised
at the comfort which prevailed. In
each one there were at least two rooms
set apart especially for the silk-worms,
and these were kept scrupulously clean.
The other rooms Of the house were well
furnished, comfortable and warm-in
every case very clean also; and did
not see in any country house any of the
squalor or misery one sees in many
English, Scotch, and especially Irish
districts
At the time when 1 was in this
country, too, there was very general
feeling of increased contentment
springing up, owing to the opening Of
some large siIk-winding factories at
Shanghai by American and English
firms Hitherto the winding of the
silk from the cocoons had been done in
most cases by the silk growers them
selves, and the demand for the silk thus
indiferently wound and the prices paid
for it were alike small But with the
establishment of silk-winding factories,
filled with steam and machinery, at
Shanghai, it was hoped and expected
BY the silk growers that the price Of
cocoons would go up, and that conse-
quently silk growing would improve as
an industry. In any case the entire
population seemed TO be prosperous
and well eontented 1t does not always
do to take the dress of any China
man as an index to the wealth he may
possess. He may have many reasons
among them being the dread Of at
tracing the attention of some ra-
pacious mandarin-for not showing
more richness of attire than is abso-
lutely necessary. and he may prefer to
go about in warm rags than run the
risk of being squeezed" by the local
officials, SO that many a traveller may
mistake this intentional poverty of at
tire fer want of money. had pointed
out TO me in Canton one day, for exam
pie. particularly woe-begone-looking
Chinaman going up the street The
gentleman who was with me, and who
was a resident on the adjacent island
of Shamien. said: Poor? / wish / was
as rich as that Chinaman. Why. half
the European houses here are in his
debt; but if he showed this by his dress
the Mandarin here would soon Dor
row q trife of him. London Morning
Post